Report on (slow) S2 Coupe rebuild progress

[nthomas1]

That's good timing John. Thanks for the measurements - very useful.    I was looking at it again today.  Turns out there's not enough clearance to fit my fabricated two part extension tube as well as the cartridge filter.   So it seems I have two options, neither of which achieves both objectives: filtering the fuel, and reaching low enough in the tank to pick up most of the fuel.

The first option is to focus on getting most of the fuel out of the tank. I would forget about the filter and fit my two-part extension so that the end of it sits just above the top of the drain plug - in about the same position as yours. I've drilled holes in the pick-uo tube so that it would still allow fuel to flow if the tube were to drop down.

The second option is to ensure that fuel is filtered, and not worry about using all of the tank.  To achieve this I'd have to mount the gauze filter at the very top of the drain plug's arms. It would then just fit over the pickup pipe by a few millimetres, and then as the plug is screwed in this would increase to about 12mm.  To do this I would have to bridge a gap of about 18mm below the filter.  I could use a short piece of the 10mm hose, but I'm not sure the filter would stay in position.  I could maybe use some wire to secure  it in place.

More thought required.  Will look at it again tomorrow, while I'm fitting the engine bay fuel system components.

  

[Dave Gee]

Having read the last four or five posts, I have one concern re the solution you are thinking of doing. If the company is saying that the pipe is compatible with modern fuels, assuming you have bought this as a pipe originally designed to carry fuel, the company may well only be referring to the lining of the hose and not necessarily the outermost layer(s). Over time, it could degrade inside the tank and you won't know about it. If you want to extend the original pipe, you could swage the end of a piece of 8mm copper tube to slide over your existing pipe, and simply work out the length you need before insertion in the tank. If you want to go down this route, I would happily swage you a piece of copper tube. Dave Gee

[nthomas1]

Hi Dave - you make an interesting point. Thanks for your offer ref the swaging. I’ll send you a pm.

[Keithver]

Just a thought Norm. I'm not the expert, but if you use your green hose idea (in your last pic), shouldn't you drill holes radially around the end of the pipe where you have tapered it. My feeling is once the fuel drops to the level of the highest hole just below the black pipe you are going to be sucking air and not really going to get the last of the fuel. It looks like you might be defeating the purpose of your exercise. Or have I missed the point. The car is looking great and your attention to detail is inspiring. I hope mine turns out as well as yours. Fantastic job

[lancialulu]

Norman, did you confirm you cannot pull the tank pipe further down with some long nose pliers? Maybe it got pushed up there when a tank plug/filter was reinserted in the past. I  would definitely use a copper washer to seal the plug to the tank.

[Jaydub]

Norm, just a thought regarding pulling the pipe down. I would insert a 6.00mm tap into the end of the pipe (8.00mm fuel pipe is normally 6.00mm bore) and pull it down. We remove hollow dowels from engines that way. It might not move too much because it`s in a baffle container inside the tank, but worth a try.

[nthomas1]

Thankyou everyone for the interest and advice.  Yes, as mentioned above, I did try pulling the pipe with needle nose pliers and it will push up but not pull down. And yes, there is a copper washer ready for the plug.

I'm actually changing direction to try a different solution.  Dave has kindly offered  to swage and flare a length of 8mm copper tubing for me and I'm going to see if I can fit that.  Watch this space!

[Keithver]

Hi Norm. Did you ever take you seat hinges apart for re-chroming? If so what did you do to get them back together

[nthomas1]

No Keith - I decided that replacing those large rivets would be too difficult, and the quotes I was getting for chroming were quite high - about £450 for the two front seats.   I managed to find a reasonable pair in Italy and used them to replace my really bad ones.

[nthomas1]

Today I connected up the cables for choke, accelerator and clutch, and fitted new rollers to the accelerator pedal and installed that.

I’ve put the dashboard back in the car now that the rev counter needle is in approximately the right position, and I’ve fitted the upper and lower cowls over the steering column.  One of the mounting points on the upper cowl was missing so I  repaired that with a rivnut set in place with some metal putty and Araldite.  I slackened off the 4 nuts that hold the steering column in order to slide the upper cowl into place.

As soon as the parts I'm waiting for arrive I'll finalise the fuel system installation.

[Jaydub]

I was thinking Norm that when you refit the fuel tank drain bung, it would be the perfect opportunity to refill the tank a litre at a time. With the ignition turned on and fuel pump running into a container, you can monitor (a) when the pump starts to pump fuel and know how low you can go on fuel with your new extended pick up pipe.
(b) you can see if the Low Fuel light goes out at around 5.0 litres as the Handbook states.
Useful information I would think for the future.
Keep up the good work.

[nthomas1]

That sounds like a really good idea John.  I will definitely do it.

[nthomas1]

I've determined the best locations for the fuel system components and have fitted them all in place.

The swaged and flared copper extension tube that Dave very kindly made up for me has arrived and should do the job.  I've been trying to get rid of the irregularities around the bottom of the tube in the tank, using small files and a tube of emery paper - a bit tricky because of the springiness in the tube and no way to grip it while filing.  I can achieve an overlap of about 12 mmm so will cut the extension tube to length tomorrow, drill some holes in it in case it drops,  and fix it in place with adhesive.

I've had another look at the drain plug filter and decided that the two arms are probably not going to hold the filter in place if there's any lateral pressure from the pick-up tube as the drain plug is rotated into place.  So I've made cutouts either side of the top of the filter - visible in the lower left hand picture - and curled over the tops of the arms a little bit more.  The assembly now feels much more robust.    

[davidwheeler]

I, too have filters in the tanks of the Fulvia and the Aprilia.    Every now and then I have to go into the boot, take off the rubber tube from the pump inlet (I mount them in the boot rather than the engine compartment) and blow hard down the tube to clear the filter.   One of these days I will scrap the intank filters and rely on easily visible and replaceable inline ones in the boot.

[dhla40]

Just a few thoughts about the pump location and set up. You appear to have a paper filter going to the pump inlet, these pumps have an internal filter already and this combined with the tank filter and the long pipe run will be very restrictive and make fuel starvation a possibility.

Sean